diff -urN initrd-ref/arch/alpha/kernel/setup.c initrd/arch/alpha/kernel/setup.c
--- initrd-ref/arch/alpha/kernel/setup.c	Thu Jun 22 03:48:16 2000
+++ initrd/arch/alpha/kernel/setup.c	Fri Jun 23 03:09:31 2000
@@ -291,15 +291,29 @@
 #ifdef CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD
 	initrd_start = INITRD_START;
 	if (initrd_start) {
-		initrd_end = initrd_start+INITRD_SIZE;
+		unsigned long initrd_size = INITRD_SIZE;
+		initrd_end = initrd_start+initrd_size;
 		printk("Initial ramdisk at: 0x%p (%lu bytes)\n",
-		       (void *) initrd_start, INITRD_SIZE);
+		       (void *) initrd_start, initrd_size);
 
 		if (initrd_end > *memory_end_p) {
 			printk("initrd extends beyond end of memory "
 			       "(0x%08lx > 0x%08lx)\ndisabling initrd\n",
-			       initrd_end, (unsigned long) memory_end_p);
+			       initrd_end, *memory_end_p);
 			initrd_start = initrd_end = 0;
+		} else {
+			/* move initrd from the middle of the RAM to the
+			   end of the RAM so we won't risk to rewrite
+			   initrd while allocating the memory at boot time */
+			unsigned long relocate;
+
+			relocate = (*memory_end_p - initrd_size) & PAGE_MASK;
+			if (relocate > initrd_start) {
+				memmove((char *) relocate,
+					(char *) initrd_start, initrd_size);
+				initrd_start = relocate;
+				initrd_end = initrd_start + initrd_size;
+			}
 		}
 	}
 #endif
diff -urN initrd-ref/arch/i386/mm/init.c initrd/arch/i386/mm/init.c
--- initrd-ref/arch/i386/mm/init.c	Thu Jun 22 03:47:46 2000
+++ initrd/arch/i386/mm/init.c	Fri Jun 23 03:05:11 2000
@@ -269,6 +269,24 @@
 	set_pte_phys (address,phys);
 }
 
+static void __init relocate_initrd(unsigned long mem_start,
+				   unsigned long end_mem)
+{
+#ifdef CONFIG_BLK_DEV_INITRD
+	unsigned long initrd_size, relocate;
+
+	if (!initrd_start || mem_start > initrd_start)
+		return;
+	initrd_size = initrd_end - initrd_start;
+	relocate = (end_mem - initrd_size) & PAGE_MASK;
+	if (initrd_start < relocate) {
+		memmove((char *) relocate, (char *) initrd_start, initrd_size);
+		initrd_start = relocate;
+		initrd_end = initrd_start + initrd_size;
+	}
+#endif
+}
+
 /*
  * paging_init() sets up the page tables - note that the first 4MB are
  * already mapped by head.S.
@@ -352,6 +370,9 @@
 	start_mem = init_smp_mappings(start_mem);
 #endif
 	local_flush_tlb();
+
+	/* relocate initrd as soon as we have the paging working */
+	relocate_initrd(start_mem, end_mem);
 
 #ifndef CONFIG_BIGMEM
 	return free_area_init(start_mem, end_mem);